"Again: How many of your last 100 purchases were made directly with monero? Just ballpark, I’m sure you have a sense.". A reasonable interpretation of this is, "you don't use it, so no one should".
Apparently millions of people find it useful. If you don't that's totally ok.
I think this is simply a privacy education issue. Here's how to anonymously buy a steam game, step by step:
If your secure computer is totally anonymous, so is your purchase.
Of my last 1 million purchases, exactly zero were done this way. The currency is not worth zero so obviously it's useful to some. "I don't personally use it" is an unconvincing argument, you simply don't care about private purchases which is totally ok.
If you were a progressive reporter in Saudi Arabia buying a web subscription to New York Times you would probably keep a balance of monero around, so these steps would take no time at all.
For the rest of us with nothing to hide, some of us use Monero like this simply to protect those who do need privacy. The more who use it, the better anonymity it provides.
You can exchange it to another accepted crypto, or convert to fiat depending on what you're trying to do. If you differ the exact amounts you buy and use, and delay the timing of your monero purchase and final purchase, it gives you anonymity. Or more like plausible deniability. Nobody said anonymity was convenient. You also don't need every purchase to be anonymous for it to be useful.
When you do most of those purchases you're not anonymous to begin. But if you want to buy an embarrassing pornographic game on Steam and don't want your payment provider to have "FURRYDICKS STUDIO" in your name, you sure can use Monero.
That's how amnesiac it is.
Monero doesn't need to be mainstream, it's immediately useful for privacy. Its price could dump 99% and it would be equally useful. You buy some, make your transaction, enjoy your anonymity and then forget about it. It's a tool, not an investment.
American here, I knew we weren't the worst!
I mean look who's sitting in the oval office. Science has progressed but most humans have not.
In parenting classes in my liberal area, the nurses will say "I'm required to tell you that circumcision has medical benefits". Then they fume how it's based off bad research and cut themselves short. "However it's not like your son will be lined up for a nude photo. You can break the cycle of trauma". I'm lucky to live here.
Exactly like my account except 30ish days ago. Welcome to Lemmy! If you're reading this comment the ban bots haven't taken over:
Luigi Mangione Innocent Death Elon Musk Trump
Luigi is a hero. But not because he killed a CEO, or anyone. Because he was framed by the government, dragged through the mud, humiliated publicly, and held his head high standing 10 feet tall. Not guilty plea is nothing less than I expected. We should all take note of his example. They can't beat us all if we resist.
He would feel threatened if a creepy woman TSA agent did this to him too. It's much more rare, but it's a better argument for these kinds of people. I've seen this response countless times. Banned from r/conservative for "threatening" users lol.
Think of them like children (his debate skills are <6th grader, so he literally is). You have to be gentle.
You won't get a lot of people talking about their usage, lol. Are you in witness protection? I think witness protection is useless too, since I've never heard anyone even admit to being in the program. Do you watch porn? Porn is completely useless, no one has ever even admitted watching it to me, even after I badger them about their fetishes.
Monero is exactly what I think it is. Is its value inflated 100x by pump and dump investors? Sure. Is it useful to millions even without the investments? You bet.